Sunday, June 05, 2011

Americans Losing Jobs from FTAs Are Overpaid

Steven Landsburg does some fine editing of this NY Times article on the pending FTAs with Colombia, Panama and S. Korea:

"The Obama administration said that it would not seek Congressional approval of free trade agreements (FTAs) with Colombia, Panama and South Korea until Republicans agree to expand assistance for American workers who might lose jobs as a result extort additional money from American consumers and taxpayers who might stop being overcharged as a result."

"Anybody who loses his job because of a free trade agreement was overpaid to begin with. The $20-an-hour American who loses his job to a $5-an-hour Colombian is an American who has spent the past few years charging his countrymen twenty dollars for something they ought to have been able to buy for five."

But, he also pays for the Stealth Aircraft, the Missile Defense, The Aircraft Carriers, The FDA, The Social Security Administration, The Levees, The Medicare, The State Police, The Local Police, The County Police, The Fire Dept, The Municipal Government, Garbage Pickup, Sewage and Water, Medicaid, Medicare, SCHIP, The Coast Guard, FEMA, EPA, USDA, DOE, Homeland Security, The FBI, The CIA . . . . . . .

I assume that Colombian worker is going to "pick up the slack," right? right?

"Intellectual property is just another form of state enforced monopoly."

No it is a property right(s). Millions of dollars and thousands of hours invested in an intellectual property project, is certainly just as much property as an heir to an Oklahoma Sooner sitting on millions of dollars of oil. The state protects both forms of property. The communal types want to steal it.

So are you saying the only reason people invent, improve and invest is because of an arbitrary monopoly granted by the state? If you are, I'm afraid you'll have to come up with some evidence for this claim to counter the massive amount of evidence to the contrary. I will cite one easy example: fashion.

I think there are valid arguments to be made for the (limited) state enforcement of IP monopoly, but to answer Walt's question - as soon as I can copy your car in 5 seconds using a milliwatt of electricity, then there will be no difference between IP and real property.

If I take your car right now today and sell it to somebody else, I have most certainly harmed you. However, if I copy an article you wrote, I have inconvenienced you.

There is NO WAY for you to protect your IP once it has been publishd without assistance from the government. However, you could most certainly protect your real property using the second amendment and other means.

I don't think that all piracy is legitimate, but Intellectual property is absolutely a different kind of property.

Regarding motivation - the book that Sprewell mentions has some examples where the lack of IP actually motivated artists to be MORE prolific. I believe it was Germany 100-200 years ago.